Study finds higher risk of psychotic disorders among teens who use marijuana

A study published Wednesday found a higher risk of psychotic disorders among teens who use marijuana.

“This study provides new evidence of a strong but age-dependent association between cannabis use and risk of psychotic disorder, consistent with the neurodevelopmental theory that adolescence is a vulnerable time to use cannabis,” the study, published in the journal Psychological Medicine, reads.

“The strength of association during adolescence was notably greater than in previous studies, possibly reflecting the recent rise in cannabis potency.”

The study looked at population-based survey data between 2009 and 2012 alongside “services covered under universal healthcare in Ontario, Canada, up to 2018” and featured a cohort of “respondents aged 12–24 years at baseline with no prior psychotic disorder.”

The study found that “compared to no cannabis use, cannabis use was significantly associated with psychotic disorders during adolescence.”

An analysis published Wednesday found that about 17.7 million people in 2022 recorded daily or near-daily marijuana use versus 14.7 million people who reported the same when it comes to alcohol use, the first time in the last 30 years that daily marijuana use was higher than daily alcohol use.

“A good 40% of current cannabis users are using it daily or near daily, a pattern that is more associated with tobacco use than typical alcohol use,” Jonathan Caulkins, a cannabis policy researcher at Carnegie Mellon University and the author of the study, told The Associated Press.